2 rockclimbers dead at Horsethief Butte

[billcoe]

Any info? Mazamas basic climbing class was out there today....anyone know anything? Sorry for this piss poor excuse for a news article. Typical.

 

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/two_rock_climbers_die_at_popul.html

 

 

"by Su-jin Yim, The Oregonian

Sunday April 05, 2009, 6:48 PM

 

Two rock climbers died Sunday at Horsethief Butte in Klickitat County.

 

Washington State Parks spokeswoman Virginia Painter confirmed the deaths, but could not release any details about the accident or victims.

 

The park on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge is a popular destination for climbers. Several dozen people were there at the time of the accident, Painter said."

 

 

Not Mazamas as it turned out. Man that sucks.

Edited April 6, 2009 by billcoe

[hemp22]

kgw.com is reporting that 1 died & the other was life-flighted out in serious condition.

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_040509_news_rock_climbing_death.a7601d67.html

Edit: although other sources are saying the woman died too - after the life flight.

Either way, best wishes to their family & friends.

Edited April 6, 2009 by hemp22

[Bug]

Bummer!

Condolences.

[111]

A man and a woman both died from their injuries after they fell from the top of a climbing pitch at Horsethief Butte Sunday afternoon.

 

Courtesy: About.com

 

Rock climbers in the Columbia River Gorge

 

The two fell about 35 feet from the top of a rock wall at about 12:45 p.m. It was not known what caused their fall.

 

About 80 climbers were in the area at the time, including a basic climbing class from the Mazamas mountaineering club.

 

A little more from this morning:

 

 

Several membes of the club provided aid to the two fallen climbers until emergency medical personnel arrived.

 

Frank Mungeam

 

A man died and a woman was seriously injured at a popular rock climbing area in Klickitat County.

 

The man died at the scene. The woman was carried down a rocky trail and taken by Life Flight from the scene but died later from her injuries.

[pink]

I completely agree with Ivan. Unfortunately, 35 ft. can be a killing fall if you hit your on your face, temple, directly on top of the the head, break your neck, etc. What is survivable all depends on how you hit, and what you hit. As Ivan noted, there's plenty of protruding rock and sharp-edged debris at Horsethief which can cause very serious injuries. People have died falling off of 6 ft. stepladders or down their own front steps. People die almost every winter somewhere in the US falling on ice-slick sidewalks. It can take surprisingly little for a fall to be permanently crippling or fatal. Helmets might have saved these two people's lives, not necessarily their ability to walk, breathe on their own, use their arms etc. But the chances would have been much, much better.

 

 

Edited April 8, 2009 by pink

[sh47]

this is very tragic. i can't imagine how 2 people fell off the top of a pitch. i hope we get more details, b/c perhaps we can all learn from their mistake. i know it's a bit dark, but it's why i read 'accidents in north american mountaineering'

[John Frieh]

I was there bouldering.

 

Noticed the group of three when I first got there: two newbie climbers getting climbing instruction from a third person. These 3 were not affiliated with the Mazamas.

 

I had my back to them so I didnt see the fall but it appeared one slipped and knocked the other one off. Both fell to the ground (bad landing). They were unroped as (my suspicion) I get the impression they were walking around/off from the top of a climb. If you've been to Horsethief you know that you can walk off just about everything there.

 

Mazamas initiated a 911 call + first aid.

 

Rescue personnel were on scene immediately. Very impressive response time for a rural climbing area.

 

[ivan]

holy crap, 35 ft. is survivable, how the fuck did they both died?

falling 3 1/2 stories and landing on your head is a perfectly speedy way to die - i seem to recall much of the ground around horsethief is very broken too and conducive to icky landings

[TRbetaFlash]

This is terrible news for their family and friends...I feel so bad when this happens to climbers or anyone for that matter.

 

You can bet that the 2009 "accidents" book will have the full rundown of this incident. Hopefully we can hear more about it soon and learn from it. As bad as it sounds, it's still very important to observe and learn from the situation.

 

We spend so much time worrying about all our systems and safety gear, yet we spend so much time just one misstep away from falling for the last time. It's nuts.

[JosephH]

From the sound of it I suspect it was an unfortunate case of not having much experience on top of climbs and with edges.

 

To some this may not seem to be a thing one needs to 'think' about explicitly, but in reality there are some basic protocols for operating safely around a cliff top and edge. This is also an aspect of climbing folks don't get any exposure to climbing in gyms so it can be a very new experience their first few times outside and it's easy to underestimate the dangers involved.

 

Another thing which can play in to such accidents is that climbing these days if a very social activity with a lot of non-climbing personal interaction, this can present significant and subtle hazards even when folks are operating from the ground, but such distractions can be exceedingly dangerous operating near an edge which requires constant focus and deliberate coordination if anyone else is involved.

 

I'm not saying any of the above played into this particular accident, but these are things worth remembering and are important to convey to new climbers on their first trips outdoors.

[sh47]

sounds like from the news reports that they were not wearing helmets and the woman wasn't wearing her shoes, but they did have harnesses on. had they just finished a climb and then gone to look for the set up for anchors on the next route? from the KGW story comments on the website they are saying the woman was an experienced climber and the guy was a cop/swat team member.

so sad.

[JosephH]

I've heard and read more about the accident and it just seems particularly tragic from every conceivable angle (and not that all such accidents aren't tragedies). My utmost condolences to their families both of which sound dedicated to the notion of service to their communities.

[Mtguide]

I completely agree with Ivan. Unfortunately, 35 ft. can be a killing fall if you hit your on your face, temple, directly on top of the the head, break your neck, etc. What is survivable all depends on how you hit, and what you hit. As Ivan noted, there's plenty of protruding rock and sharp-edged debris at Horsethief which can cause very serious injuries. People have died falling off of 6 ft. stepladders or down their own front steps. People die almost every winter somewhere in the US falling on ice-slick sidewalks. It can take surprisingly little for a fall to be permanently crippling or fatal. Helmets might have saved these two people's lives, not necessarily their ability to walk, breathe on their own, use their arms etc. But the chances would have been much, much better.

Edited April 7, 2009 by Mtguide

[Jamie]

I suppose it is hard to imagine what happened. We may never know exactly what did happen. Too often the people who investigate these accidents are not trained to do so. Many of the articles in the American Alpine Club's annual accident reports inadequately deal with the proximate cause (or causes), or speculate in the absence of a more complete investigation by people who are properly equipped to do so. This is a pet peeve of mine. I know they (AAC) do the best they can with what they have available, I just wish there were time and money and personnel available to do a better job. Why? Because it could potentially save lives.